Essay: Hour of Bewilderbeast by Badly Drawn Boy

Records typically live or die by consistency, which is to say they could go either way. In music-critic-speak, a consistent album could either have a “unified sound” or be too similar overall. On the other hand, an erratic grab bag of styles and influences can confuse, disorient, and annoy. Badly Drawn Boy’s debut The Hour Of Bewilderbeast pulls off the seemingly impossible: It’s a consistent grab bag, a cohesive hodgepodge, and a ramshackle collage that more than equals the sum of its parts.[ Click here for more ]